Potentially dangerous meteorite debris fell on Al-Shifa mountain in Saudi Arabia

The deputy chairman of the Astronomy Society in Jeddah and member of the Arab Federation for Space Science and Astrophysics, Sharaf al-Sufiyani revealed that meteorite debris fell on Al-Shifa mountain last Sunday July 22, 2012, near the village of Al-Ajbel.

He pointed out in his statement to the daily Medina newspaper today that the meteorite debris comprises large rocky pieces which before landing disintegrated into smaller pieces and landed on various locations. One of the dwellers told him that there are two other locations similar where debris has fallen.

Regarding the timing of the meteorite’s falling, Al-Sufiyani said that it would be too difficult to determine the exact timing which requires specialized laboratories, but it does not look too old because parts of the debris are still scattered on the surface and if it is old then it would have been buried under the ground and would have been too difficult to find. He also said that should this meteorite have fallen on a house or on a heavily populated region it would have inflicted gross damage.

However, thanks to divine providence, our planet earth is surrounded by an atmospheric layer which prevents the landing of lots of meteorite debris onto mother earth otherwise it would have caused a great disaster that is many folds of its weight.

Meteorites are universal rocky formations orbiting outer space and whenever these pass through the stratosphere, the earth attracts them and so they fall onto earth. Such meteorites burnout as a result of friction against air and if burned before arrival on earth, scientists call them meteorites however should they land on earth they are called universal debris.

Source: RSOE EDIS